Digital Kids is best known for its Petz franchise.

NOV. 5, 2007 • Japanese development studio Digital Kids is acquired by Ubisoft. Terms were not disclosed. With offices in Nagoya and Osaka, Digital Kids was formed in 1996, and has become very successful at creating animal simulation titles for the DS platform, including the Petz franchise for Ubisoft.

Impact: Acquiring studios with an existing relationship to the publisher is becoming a regular occurrence. Both Activision and THQ have secured development resources in this way, and Ubisoft picking up Digital Kids is a wise decision given the continued strength of DS platform. The latter currently has 20 developers working on DS titles.